Parliamentary Committee discussed the issue of blocked identity cards

Lahore : The Ministry of Interior’s Parliamentary Committee on the National Re-verification Programme (NRVP 16) held its meeting at NADRA Headquarters here on Thursday and discussed the issue of blocked identity cards. 

The meeting which was presided over by Acting Speaker of National Assembly Murtaza Abbasi, assessed the progress of District Level Committees (DLCs) and the status of implementation of mechanism, as approved by the parliamentary committee, for early and timely clearance of blocked CNICs by DLCs across the country.

The committee lamented the performance of DLCs terming it unsatisfactory and disappointing and called for speeding up the process, resolving the complex cases without further let up.

Those attending the meeting included Director General Operation NADRA along with other senior officers. Members of the Parliamentary Committee included Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), namely: MNA Khalid Hussain Magsi, MNA Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan, MNA Molana Ameer Zaman, MNA Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, MNA Shah Jee Gul Afridi, MNA Shaikh Salahuddin and MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah.

The committee held detailed deliberations on the progress and performance of DLCs and decided to ask the respective provincial governments to intervene and direct the heads of districts in order to start working on the mechanism for early and timely clearance of blocked CNICs within stipulated time frame.

The committee also decided to direct the DLCs to resolve the complex cases within 30 days. District-level committees were supposed to oversee the complex cases of blocked CNICs and subsequently verify and clear these cases within a specified time frame.

Meanwhile, DG Operation NADRA briefed the committee on overall progress made by NADRA on the non-complex cases that were blocked by NADRA and supposed to be temporarily cleared within 6 days if the applicant’s case was filed within his/her own district, or 30 days if his/her case is filed outside the native district.

The committee appreciated the performance and prompt tangible actions taken by NADRA and Interior Ministry in that regard. However, the committee desired that certain technical bottlenecks needed to be removed so that the affected people could get maximum relief.

With regard to providing legal status to Bengalis in Pakistan, the committee deliberated in depth on the provision of legal status to Bengalis living in the country. Thus the committee agreed on the recommendation to propose the constitutional amendment in that regard and legalize the marginalized segment of society once and for all.